Why I don't want Clem or Kenny back

SPOILER WARNING:

The phrase "the lady or the tiger" comes from a famous allegorical short story of the same name. Wikipedia has a short synopsis of it here, which will make some of my points below clearer.

I think there are many the similarities between that story and TWD — particularly the ending. What does Clementine choose to do? Lee/the player have spent the entire game instructing her, either directly or by example, in how to behave in the harsh world she's now in.

Will she make the right choice? Is there a right choice? At this point between seasons, there isn't. Just as in TLoTT, it's up to the audience to determine what happens next. The same goes for Kenny, but in a less layered fashion.

So I think if TTG continues Clementine's story in S2 it will undermine S1 as a single complete work. Like TLoTT, the theme of TWD is choice in the face of uncertainty. To know what the outcome is ruins the work's ability to evoke that feeling of teetering on the edge of a precipice. The game worked so hard to create that feeling and to use it to manipulate audience emotions that I think releasing the tension of not knowing would be doing the story a disservice. As the central emotion, I think that's the one we should be left with.

To know who those figures on the hill are would be like knowing why the Mona Lisa smiles, or how a magic trick works. The answer might be clever, interesting, or even impressive, but it will never be as compelling as not knowing. It's the mystery and feeling of uncertainty which makes the ending so powerful.

Besides, there are only three things that can happen anyway.[LIST=1][*]She's rescued and survives. Not only is this counter to the property's standard of "no one is safe," it can't be conclusive because the story of that world doesn't skip ahead by decades.[*]She dies. This one sucks for the obvious reason that it means that all the player's/Lee's effort was for nothing.[*]The cycle starts all over again with another person guarding her. This sucks because: We've already played that story; It turns Lee into just her first surrogate parent; It basically turns Clem into a football that the player must carry to the end of the current narrative. As much as I loved that fictional little girl I want to play TWD, not "Babysitter vs. Zombies 2."[/LIST]If I was forced by TTG to decide what happened to Clem, I'm not sure what I would pick. But whatever I decided could never be as emotionally powerful as the feeling of not knowing.

So I hope the developers consider this as a serious option.

But if they do go this route, I hope they let the players know up front that that's what they're doing and why. I think modern audiences can understand things like that. People are increasingly genre savvy and comfortable with analyzing works while still enjoying them. Once the realm of creators, critics, and obsessive fans, I think more people can now take things like authorial intent into account when reflecting on works of art.

I was too attached to Lee, though I accepted the fact that he's dead and gone.Same with Clem and Kenny, I just hope Season 2 will be as great as Season 1. I just want confirmation on both of them, also Christa and Omid, I need closure .____.

I think Clementine has to come back as they pretty much guaranteed it with the "Clementine will remember this" message at the end of the game...However I hope she is not the driving force behind season two's plot, as it would feel like a betrayal if she just picked up another parent figure instead of using her experiences with Lee to mature as a character...This way the new protagonist can come to like her organically, as he/she would probably have no idea of Clementine's back story, or he could let her die (if the player was a soulless bastard)

I reckon what will happen (which I kind of hope) is that you'll come across the surviving characters in your new persona. But it's likely to be less of a huge part of the story. If you told Clem to find Omid and Krista, there's a chance you'll meet them together, maybe team up with them in a chapter, but nothing too grand really. The options are pretty vast; if you told her to trust nobody, you may never see her again, or for a fleeting moment. Or you meet Omid and Krista elsewhere (not sure on all the options as I went first across the sign to the Marsh House so we were split up), but no Clem if she wasn't told where to meet up with them. Or just Clem, the options have been laid out. Same with location, be it if you planned to leave by train, boat, in the countryside.I'm very interested in how TTG carry this on, but personally I wouldn't want to be Clem's keeper. Don't get me wrong, I cared more for Clem than some people in the real world, but Lee trained her to fend for herself, seems like a step back to then put her in someone else's hands all over again. Connecting her with someone else would weaken the relationship gained between her and Lee in my eyes

Romero's goal in the zombies he made was to show humanities inhumanity which is more horrifying than zombies coming to eat you and it seems that Kirkman's main focus (atleast to me) is how we hurt our children. Both are things we see carry into real life, how our choices affect the ones we love.

The story has to have Clem to create some kind of emotional attachment, though should we really have much to do with her? Certainly not, atleast not in the same way as Season 1. I do agree with the OP though, however it is done in season 2 it would be better if season 2 gives us ambiguity about Clem's safety and her future.

I'd love to see them do something like a Michonne (her time with the governor) from the comics but with Christa leading her to have a miscarriage, eventually leading to her death and leaving the "weaker" one of that awesome couple on his own maybe with Clem. It would def create some impact.

As for Kenny, it's so easy to see him pull a Tyresse that I think he will be seen in season 2. Also given his personality I wouldn't be surprised if while defending Ben (if you took that choice) he didn't use that last bullet to end Ben's life but rather to shoot a walker to either cover himself with or to get out of there. There have been so many times I thought I knew what he would do only to have his actions betray him (But alot of how he behaves is choice related, so maybe my choices weren't all pro Kenny).